Said you were leaving, guess not. It's not the stickers, it's the spray paint in abandonments they are calling you out on.

All this sticker talk makes me wonder...are they Scratch N Sniff? The 80's were great!

Posted by bandi That actually made my head hurt. Being written on with chalk (a temporary medium) is what chalkboards are designed for. That's like saying using a doorknob to open a door is vandalism.

I don't know why you're having such difficulties understanding such a simple concept.

- Writing on a chalkboard that you own, inside of your own house is not vandalism. You're correct in that you're simply using it as was intended.

- Breaking into a building that you do not own and writing your name on a chalkboard within that building is vandalism. Period. The property owner did not invite you inside, nor did they ask you to write your name anywhere, with any marking device, irregardless of its permanency or lack thereof. It doesn't matter if it's with chalk on a blackboard, chalk on a painted wall, a sticker on a fridge, spray painted on a mirror or written on the floor in your own blood. They didn't want it there, you're there without permission, and the fact that it's still technically "vandalism" doesn't change.


Think about it this way - if someone broke into your house and wrote their name on your kitchen wall in chalk, would you say to yourself "well thank god it's only chalk and not a sticker"? My guess is that you would be hugely upset regardless of the medium used, because the most important fact of all is that someone broke into your house and vandalized it. Heck, just seeing a bunch of strange muddy footprints on the floor would be enough to freak the hell out of most people, because all that matter is that someone was there without permission. You're somehow arguing that one type of vandalism is less damaging and of less consequence than another, which is just crazy. It doesnt matter if you're stealing a toy from Dollarama or fifty million dollars from a bank vault - you're still stealing. Of course the punishment should fit the crime (which is why I don't actually have anything against writing on chalkboards - I've already admitted to doing it myself), but the crime is still the same.



Anyways, I'm done with this argument. I'm very confident in my rationale and yet entirely unsure of your ability to adopt an unbiased point of view. Your distaste for Jerm has obviously rendered you incapable of presenting or defending a coherent argument, and I refuse to bicker with fools. Good day.

Posted by RiddimRyder All this sticker talk makes me wonder...are they Scratch N Sniff? The 80's were great! http://www.liketot...sniff-stickers.jpg

hahaha, always loved those things. The permanent markers too....I used to always whiff on the grape ones

Posted by terapr0 I refuse to bicker with fools. Good day.

No....I'm more like:



Now go explore something.

So I should just start spray painting my name inside abandonments, since that's apparently just as acceptable as writing on a chalk boards. Gotcha.

Posted by jerm IX 5. I find it hilarious and a tad peculiar that you people, grown adults, would get so worked up about my sticker hobby.

It's irritating. I like my city, and your stickers look like shit plastered all over it. It's not art. It's "HEY LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME I HAVE FUCKING STICKERS!".

It's not you. It's your stickers.

Posted by bandi It's not art.

oh shit, my bad....I forgot about that memo outlining how you were solely qualified to determine what is and isn't art. Because you know, you're totally the authority on this kind of stuff, seeing as how you make so much of it yourself...

If you mean to tell me youd have the same reaction to someone writing their name in chalk in your kitchen vs. Spraypainting their name... youre crazy. One is easily removed with a paper towel, or even a sleeve. While the other requires paint thinner or being painted over. Not even close to the same thing. Not. Even. Close.

And stickers ARENT ART... if you saw a sticker on the corner of a piece of paper would your first reaction be "oh what a lovely piece of art" ?? Probably not.

What Jerm is doing is vandalism. No way around it. You can defend him all you want but what he is doing is still wrong. We all break the law by trespassing, yeah. But most of us dont go out of our way to draw negative attention to ourselves and our hobby.

The wheat paste was bad, the stickers are bad. Its a shame jerms story writing and photography skills are being diminished by these foolish desires for attention.

Somebody call the police because the police wrote on the walls with PERMANENT MARKER!!!

Paint roller trick by jerm IX, on Flickr

Posted by terapr0 oh shit, my bad....I forgot about that memo outlining how you were solely qualified to determine what is and isn't art. Because you know, you're totally the authority on this kind of stuff, seeing as how you make so much of it yourself...

Not exactly "solely" - as should be obvious by now, there are plenty of people who do not think that it is art.

Art barely has a definition, it's entirely subjective. Germ thinks that putting up stickers, paint, and edgy quotes on places is art. As a result, many of us think of him as a total dingbat. Are these accurate? Depends on who you ask!

Posted by Freaktography Somebody call the police because the police wrote on the walls with PERMANENT MARKER!!!

Police services often use abandoned buildings for training purposes. They are either 'donated' for the cause, or are owned by the Province of Ontario (Infrastructure Ontario) who also own the O.P.P. It's not like the police just walked in and decided to write on the walls.

This entire thread has been rehashed and will be rehashed in the future under various forms. The end arguments are always the same no matter who, where, how or why...

Person A: I leave my name in public places on other people's property.
Person B: That's vandalism.
Person A: No, it's "art".
Person B: Funny how you justify damaging property as 'art'. Can I poop on your lawn in the name of art? Can I paint the side of your house in the name of art?
Person A: You're an explorer, you're a hypocrite. You trespass. Your opinion is moot.
Person B: I take photos and don't vandalize. I have some great photos as a result, what do you have?
Person A: Everyone knows my name, I'm famous dude.

People are too locked into their own mindset on UER to ever have this debate rationally, or have personal affiliations with the artist.

To find a neutral view, talk to the families (not the teens) who raise their children in these neighbourhoods and whose children bike, walk or play near this 'art'. To those who've bothered to solicit opinion, you'd not be all too surprised to hear that these families DON'T appreciate their neighbourhoods looking like shit. When you're 16 years old, maybe you care that other teens see your
and ooh and ahh, but many a working man finds it repulsive.

If someone joined this site and never explored once, never trespassed once, would their opinion then carry weight? No because then we'd go back to square one with the "it's art" argument.

Bottom line - talk to the families in your neighbourhood. I have, and have never heard of one person wanting this 'art'. That's why when I find it on our local playground, mailboxes or hydro boxes, I'm out there with the varsol and SOS pads. The comments from passers by? Positive.

But alas, I'm an explorer and I contact little old ladies who own houses and I've banned people from my site and people don't like me and I kick cats and ladies cross the street to avoid me so fuck me sideways because I can't have an opinion and oppress the 'artist'.

I'll agree with Skye, Jerm has a talent for story telling and for photography. I've explained to him privately why I feel he does what he does, and would welcome his return to exploring and photographing.

When you're old and grey would you rather have your tags long since painted over by a kid who's still got acne, or have a wall full of splendid decay, maybe published a book or two and met some great companions along the way?

To each their own.... back to bickering.

Posted by Skye_Ann If you mean to tell me youd have the same reaction to someone writing their name in chalk in your kitchen vs. Spraypainting their name... youre crazy.

I would be 100% more upset by the mere fact that an unwanted visitor had broken into my home, come inside and vandalized my property than by the fact it was marker vs. chalk....The medium used to write the name would be entirely irrelevant.

This has turned into a pissing match of who is more right and who has the best definition and reasoning for graffiti. We're done here.

In the future, if you cannot help yourself from just posting off-topic, hate-filled information in a thread, please reconsider posting.

Everyone who has derailed this thread from its potential and onto something irrelevant to the original post, good job. Now stop.